STEEL: Land of Plenty

The tragic irony of the U.S.'s steel shortage was underscored last week
by a new report on how much steel the U.S. can now produce. According
to the American Iron & Steel Institute, U.S. steel capacity
(conservatively rated a good 2½% below all-out capacity) was stepped up
628,350 tons in the first half of 1942 to a colossal 89,198,320-ton
total. The increase alone meant enough ingots to build twelve more
Victory ships or 1,200 medium tanks every month, and the new total
represents 50% of all the world's steel and almost half again as much
as the U.S. had at...